Crown Acetone Fastest Drying Solvent

Crown Acetone is the fastest drying of the common shop solvents, available here in 1 gallon and 5 gallon. On a coating crew it does three jobs: it cleans tools and equipment before resin cures on them, it removes uncured epoxy, urethane and polyaspartic from surfaces and skin contact areas, and it serves as a solvent wipe where a manufacturer's data sheet calls for one.

The fast flash is the entire point and also the entire limitation. Acetone leaves a surface almost immediately, which is why it is the right choice when you need a wiped area dry and ready to coat in minutes rather than an hour. It is also why it is a poor choice when you want a solvent to sit and work, or when you are trying to keep a wet edge. For slow work, xylene is the better tool.

What acetone is not: it is not surface prep. It does not open a profile, and no amount of wiping replaces diamond grinding. It is not a real degreaser for a slab that has oil driven into it, because it thins the oil and drives it deeper as often as it lifts it. It is not a general purpose thinner either. Thin a coating only with the solvent that coating's own technical data sheet names, at the ratio the sheet gives. Adding acetone to a system that does not call for it changes pot life, cure and film build in ways you will not see until the floor is finished.

Acetone is highly flammable and evaporates quickly into a large volume of vapor. Use it with real ventilation, keep it well away from pilot lights, heaters, grinders and any other ignition source, wear chemical-resistant gloves and eye protection, and keep containers closed. Solvent-soaked rags need proper handling and disposal rather than a pile in a warm truck. A 5 gallon pail of acetone in an enclosed garage is a serious fire hazard, not a minor one.

Solvents are regulated for shipment, so ground shipping rules apply. Call 817-676-6793 for bulk or freight orders.